Kalabsha Temple in EGYPT
Is one of the most beautiful and complete temples in Lower Nubia. It was built during the reign of Augustus (30 BC – 14 AD), the first Roman Emperor. This temple was mainly dedicated to the Nubian deity Mandulis, as well as to the ancient Egyptian deities such as Isis and her husband Osiris.
The temple is traditional in its layout, consisting of an edifice leading to an open courtyard, which in turn leads to a hypostyle hall.
While two transverse rooms are located behind them, they serve as rooms for offerings. Of course, at the far end of the temple we find the Holy of Holies, where a statue of the deity was kept, as is customary.
A small chapel partially carved into the rock of the Nubian deity Diduin is located in the southwest side, and a small chapel that was probably built during the reign of Ptolemy IX in the second century BC is located in the northeast.
Multiple cultures over time have left their mark on the Kalabsha Temple, from the temple's dedication to the Nubian deity to the inscriptions and texts written in Meroitic and Greek.
The slender columns and wide spacing suggest an influence in Greco-Roman tradition.
There are also many crosses carved on the walls of the temple at the beginning of the spread of Christianity in the region, and thus the Holy of Holies was used as a church structure later.
Between 1962-1963 AD, this temple was moved, like other Nubian temples, from its original location on Kalabsha Island to the new Kalabsha Island in order to save it after the rise in the Nile water level during the construction of the High Dam in Aswan, and given the historical value of the antiquities, Egyptian antiquities were included in Nubia From Abu Simbel to Philae on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
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